


Five People Who Should Not Have Found Out You Were Sleeping With Your Second In Command (By John Sheridan)

by Leyenn



Category: Babylon 5
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2009-11-16
Updated: 2009-11-16
Packaged: 2017-10-03 02:48:58
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,544
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13374
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Leyenn/pseuds/Leyenn





	Five People Who Should Not Have Found Out You Were Sleeping With Your Second In Command (By John Sheridan)

**1.**

"John," she says urgently. "God, you can sleep for Earth. Wake _up_."

He opens his eyes blearily: she's kneeling on the bed, not sprawled against him the way she should be, and she's scowling in that incredibly adorable, about-to-kick-his-ass sort of way. He frowns and rubs a hand over his face, rolling over a little.

"Mm... what's up?"

"General Hague, that's what's up. I mean, who's up. I mean-" and then she obviously notices the downward spiral she's on and sighs. He realises she's not dressed any more than he is, the darkness around her shoulders is just the robe she's been keeping hidden in the corner of his closet. "Never mind. Get up, already, he's asking to talk to you."

"He - _what?_" Okay, now he's awake. "You answered my comm?" He chokes, looking her up and down. God, she's sexy when she looks a mess, especially one he's had a hand in making. Two hands, in fact. And his mouth. "Dressed like that?"

"Well, I wasn't expecting it to be one of the Joint Chiefs," she says acidly. "Are you going to go and speak to him, or should I go back out there?"

He almost grins at her tone and has to fight it back. It's not like he's upset by this turn of events, exactly; he just really didn't expect it from Ivanova, of all people. Okay, so it's been a few months now, and okay, he can't immediately think of anyone in their usual circle of acquaintances - or people who have access to his comm channel, come to that - who doesn't at least know in passing, and okay, he's been making his best efforts to get her to relax a little more, but...

Well, he didn't actually think he'd been _successful_.

He settles for a little smile and kicks back the sheets. "Okay, I'm going, I'm going."

  


*

  


**2.**

They all think he's gone mad. Despite the fact that it's not strictly against the rules, and that it's obvious this is not and never has been - well, wasn't for all that long, and anyway no one's listened enough for him to explain that yet - a frivolous affair, he's seen the way they're looking at him.

He straightens his jacket again. Never mind that he probably couldn't get the lines any more perfect with a ruler. It gives him something to do other than ignore them.

"I have Commander Ivanova on channel three for you, Captain," the lieutenant on the comm calls out, and he squares his shoulders and sits back into the command chair.

"Put her through."

"Would you like to take it privately, sir?" she asks, and he feels his expression harden despite the efforts he's making to fit back in here. It's been more difficult than he thought but he's trying, and he thought he was getting somewhere. Hell, he'd probably get less ribbing than this if he were sleeping with Delenn - and not all of it's as good-natured as it should be for a captain just come home.

He makes sure his voice is level before answering. "No, thank you, Lieutenant." Maybe he should say something else, but he'd rather not encourage them all.

"Aye, sir."

That's probably a smile he can hear. He sighs under his breath and touches the comm.

"_Agamemnon_ here, Commander. Go ahead."

The sound of her voice is the first blessed note of joy in the day. "_*_Agamemnon_, this is the_ White Star Two_, reporting in. We cleared the way for you, John, all the way to Mars.*_"

He grins then and hell, he doesn't care who sees it. "Acknowledged, Commander," he says, and he knows she can hear everything they're all waiting for in those two words.

  


*

  


**3.**

"Are you quite all right, John?"

He starts at the words: he didn't notice anyone else here, and he certainly didn't expect it. The observation dome isn't exactly a hive of activity even when it's not the middle of the night cycle. Delenn steps up beside him, and for a moment he sees something in their reflection before it fades away and there are just the stars again, staring back at him out of the darkness.

"You should be in bed," she says, gently. He smiles and nods.

"Yeah, I know." He folds his arms in front of him. "I couldn't sleep."

"This is a long way to walk just for that," she says, her voice quietly accented in the otherwise silence. "Unless you were hoping to tire yourself out, in which case, I do not think it can be working very well just standing here."

He chuckles at that. She's got a point. "Kosh came to see me today," he says. She looks up at him.

"Is that why you are unable to sleep?"

He sighs. "Something he said keeps bugging me. Something about... destiny and starlight, I think. As visits from Kosh go, it was _particularly_ bizarre." He rubs his arm idly for a moment, then admits; "And I'd have sworn he wasn't happy with me."

Delenn smiles wistfully, and he briefly wonders if she knows more than she's telling. They stand in companionable silence for a moment, and then she turns to him.

"Perhaps," she says, in a thoughtful voice, "Ambassador Kosh finds himself in the unusual position of not having foreseen everything the future holds." Her smile brightens a little at how perplexed he must look, and then she closes her hands together and bows gracefully to him. "Goodnight, Captain."

"Goodnight," he starts to say, but she's already gone.

  


*

  


**4.**

Perhaps he has gone mad, after all. That would certainly explain it all.

"What are you thinking now?" she murmurs, smiling a little. "If you get any more distracted I'm going to start thinking I shouldn't be here."

"Hmm? Oh." he smiles back at her. "Just wondering if we've managed to come through all of this with some modicum of sanity."

"I think the chances are pretty low," she answers as if she's been prepared for that question since they landed dirtside, and reaches up to wind her hand behind his neck. "The way I'm figuring it, we're none of us completely sane any more, so we should probably just make the best of it."

He chuckles and leans down into her kiss. Her mouth is a warm, familiar, fierce reality, and he devours it as hungrily as she gives it. She's everything that keeps him anchored, everything, and if he does have some small amount of sanity left after all this it's probably, ironic though it seems to admit, because of her presence by his side.

He wraps his arms around her tightly, lets his hand roam up her back and across the familiar black fabric of her uniform. She's wearing her hair down again, for the first time in public in what feels like months to him, and he smiles at being able to run his fingers through it as they kiss.

"Mm, this is probably a very bad idea," she says quietly as his palm comes to rest on her face.

"Probably," he admits.

"We'll get caught."

"Probably."

She laughs under her breath, leaning into him in just the right way that makes him smile and drop his head to kiss her again. Her hands stroke his face, drawing him into her, and her mouth opens against his, and that delicate flicker of her tongue is quite effectively driving all thought of sanity from his mind...

And that's when he hears his father say, in a tone that sounds particularly unimpressed; "John?!"

  


*

  


**5.**

Susan turns the news feed off in disgust and falls back against the couch, a dark and murderous look in her eyes.

"Do they honestly think anyone's _believing_ their bullshit?!"

"Scared people will believe a lot of things," he says, feeling as morose as she looks and at least half as ready to spill the blood of any journalist unlucky enough to get within five sectors. She snorts.

"What exactly is it about our sex life that's that terrifying?" she asks, but some of the heat fades from her expression.

"The fact that we have one, if you listen to that," he says, waving a disgusted hand at the black screen.

She almost laughs, but not quite. Stubborn, and rightly so, that's the Susan he's fallen for. Eventually she shakes her head and reaches for her glass, rising to refill it. "Hell, I know that scares me some days, but I didn't think it was a widespread condition."

He's surprised by that. "I scare you, Susan?"

She puts her glass down and looks at him, the bottle still untouched on the table behind her. "That wasn't what I said," she says slowly.

"Was it what you meant?"

"_No_." She sighs. "No, it wasn't. I just... can't believe anyone thinks who I'm in love with has any bearing on what we're doing here. It's demeaning."

"I think that's what they're aiming for." He walks the four steps over to her slowly, and doesn't reach out to touch until he can already feel the heat of her body close to his. "Look, next time I promise, I'll just let you space them, okay?"

She doesn't want to smile, he can tell, but she does. "Okay."

  


*

  



End file.
